$5 Dinners- Grilling for 7!

Another great way to keep your dinner budget under $5 is to buy meat on sale and marked down. This last shopping trip to Kroger gave me chicken tenders (about 12 in the package) for around $2.87. Then I used some of the grill spices that I have got in the last few weeks for free (Lawry's from Meijer, Weber's & McCormick's from Kroger) to give the chicken some great taste. I also made some pasta salad. Now you can either get good deals on the boxed pasta salads or you can make your own. What I have done is take a bag of Wacky Mac (thanks Megan for explaining why it isn't too wacky to try!), I mix in Ranch dressing (which I have got for free or pennies, keep watching and using those coupons!), and I mix in a chopped tomato and sprinkle it with Parmesan cheese. Pair that with a side of cantaloupe and you have an awesome meal.

Here is the cost break down:

chicken tenders- $2.87

seasoning- free (with coupons)

pasta salad, Wacky mac- $.16 (with coupons)

ranch dressing- free (with coupons)

1 tomato- $.50 (guesstimating)

sprinkling of Parmesan- $.20 (?)

Cantaloupe- $.99

Total for the meal: $4.72

This meal actually fed 4 adults, and 3 kids!

I want to ENCOURAGE you, to shop for the best deals. Use coupons if possible, and shop those sales! This is the only way that you will be able to bring that grocery bill down further! Check out my post HERE, and please let me know if you have any questions!

$5 Dinners- Tuna Noodle Casserole

First of all, I would not be able to make my family $5 (or less) dinners if it were not for shopping with coupons and sales together, and then stocking up on those great deals. If you would like to read about how I do that, go HERE. And if you have ANY questions feel free to ask!

Second, in making our meals, I MAKE THEM. So, for a super of Chicken and dumplings, I make everything. We don't have a dinner kit or anything. Those are nice if you are on the run, not not as good for you (sodium content is through the roof) and the prices usually aren't that great either. Plus, in making our own, we usually have leftovers! So you can get a bonus meal out of it!

So, I will start with our meal that we had last night, which was Tuna Noodle Casserole. It is a super simple, throw together meal.

Here are the ingredients and the (approx) prices that I paid for them:

1 can tuna ( we like the chunk Albacore tuna, in water. I hate the other stuff. I got this on sale at Walgreen's I think it was 3/$1 and I actually paid nothing for it because I used their RR (Register Rewards) to pay for it.) $0.

2 cans cream of mushroom soup (I have got this on sale several times this winter and spring. I won't pay any more them $.50 for a can because I can get it around that cheap at Aldi's. But I think with coupons and sales I payed around $.30 per can.) $.60

1 bag noodles, cooked. (I think these were about $1.75 for a bag, and I had a coupon that made it about $1.) $1.

All of the above ingredients are mixed together, and we added frozen corn for a side (frozen corn was about $.50 on sale with coupon). $.50

Total for the meal: $2.10!

Feeding our family of 6 for one meal, $2.10!

Now, it's your turn... do you have any meal ideas for under $5??? (Link directly to the $5 meal link)